Endless Children
by QueenofDiamondss
Summary: When one of the Endless has a child, no matter if it's male or female or both in Desire's case  the results end up with foster parents without anyone knowing that there was, in fact a kid. Every so often, the potentials are gathered up to see who is whose
1. One: The Escapist

I had this idea when my muses tripped into my head with a new plot bunny/pet: "What if the Endless really did have mortal kids?"Then, when I couldn't ignore it and finish my original story, I gave in and started this little masterpiece. Being a pale imitation of Neil Gaiman's original, I don't expect praise for it, I expect honest reviews. Please?

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"Kaiyali!" The demoness roared as she stood imposingly at the edge of the fiery circle. I ignored her, pushing my sandy bangs out of my eyes. Across the circle my opponent, Tamlin Flamefoot, rushed me, swinging a roundhouse kick at my head. I ducked, neatly throwing him over my shoulder with his own momentum.

Tamlin landed on all fours and tried again, but I'd picked up a burning branch and rolled under his attack. The spectators, all but Tiglah, the matriarch of the camp, were chanting my name. I jammed the unburnt end of the branch into his chest, knocking him to the ground with me on top.

Tamlin swore "Awright! You win, now get off me!" I sprang off him and sauntered over to Tiglah, respectfully dropping the branch. "So what's wrong?" I asked as politely as I could. For if anyone tried to be casual or, heaven forbid, rude to Tiglah they could consider themselves worse than dead. The gypsy queen was a terrifying woman to even be in the presence of. She puffed herself up, making her already imposing figure even more so. "Kaiyali Moondancer," She sighed, shrinking slightly, "You are an exemplary fighter, a renown gambler, and god knows you have more men after you for one reason or another than much of our camp combined!"

I preened at what anyone in camp would consider high praise from Tiglah, until she continued with, "But this is the last straw! I can't keep you here anymore!" My face drained of what little color it had as several armored men stepped from behind the tents holding the black irons of a prisoner of the Bastion. If that damnable woman was sending me to the Bastion, it meant she'd finally gotten one too many complaints about me. It was time to part company with my most recent temporary family.

I spun around, over Tamlin, out of the ring of fire, and up a tree before they could do more than follow with their eyes. I was faster through the trees than men would ever be on foot, but they had the added benefit of horses. I came swiftly to the edge of the camp grounds, and dropped to the ground. Now that my path was clear of people, things would be much easier. I ran on all fours, matching pace with the horses behind me, though they gained gradually. The forest was quiet and it was so dark that all my senses were on overdrive. I could see pretty well, the smell of hawks and fish should have tipped me off early. And my ears caught the soft whistling of the net right before a pair of knights threw it over my had but a momentary victory, however, because the horrific stories featuring to dark dungeons of the Bastion flooded my mind, lending me frenzied strength.

I broke free, dragging the net from their hands and racing off in it. I couldn't see quite as well now and the thick hemp ropes slowed me considerably. I didn't see the cliff until the last second, when both net and myself tumbled over the edge of the drop like a stone._'This is it.'_ I thought. _'I'm gonna die falling into the river with a glorified fishing net!'  
_  
These thoughts swirled around my head frantically until I realized I wasn't falling anymore. The net I'd been cursing had caught on a pair of limestone boulders, so I swung in the air like a cheap pendulum. The knights on horseback caught up, and seeing my misfortune, they laughed as they roughly pulled me up the cliff face. Apparently, I could escape the guards of the Bastion, but I couldn't escape the trappings of a net. While my pride was now seriously bruised and the size of a grape, being hauled up and dragged behind the horses at a gallop was nothing short of damningly painful. Like a blessing, I fell asleep after the first mile or so. And I began to dream. Dreams, as I've often found, can be more confusing than reality.

In hindsight, finding that your dream begins with a pair of strangers sitting on your parent's graves is not a pleasant way to start things. They probably felt just as awkward as I did. The girl on my mother's headstone wasn't any older than myself, or so it looked. She had the long black hair, pale porcelain skin, and almond eyes of an oriental. But somehow I knew her companion was far from oriental. His skin was almost blue, how pale he was, but his hair was blue-black like a greecian's and he had no eyes. No eyes to speak of anyways. He seemed to see me pretty well. Instead of normal eyes, his sockets were black and inside was a multitude of stars. Each twinkling speck of light made it look like the only thing on his mind as he sat on my father's grave, was a bunch of fireflies. And those fireflies looked pissed.

Instead of being the quiet, polite girl I'd been to Tiglah, I felt more defiant, more alive, than I had since I was a small child. "Do you mind?" I asked, hardly intimidated by the thin, irritated scowl on his face. But I'd hardly finished speaking when he cut me off. "Can we get on with this already? Holding the Dreaming on one complete dream is very taxing!" He snarled, looking very inch, a madman. The girl waved him off saying, "Brother, hush. You know as well as I do, even more than I do, how important she is. And . . . Brother are you sweating?"

Just as she'd said, when I looked closely at her brother, I could see tiny beads of sweat on his face turning pale blue and floating away from him. Through clenched teeth he hissed, "You try holding one dream of immense power in focus with billions of others breathing down your neck, Sister Death. You have about twenty seconds."

_ 'Death?'_I winced and went very pale. I'd heard of people dying in their sleep but this was just ridiculous! Before I could protest that I didn't want to die, she spoke very nonchalantly, "Nah. Just let is go, Dream. We can't do anything until Destruction get to her on the outside. She might not be ready anyways."

Dream?

Death?

"What the hell is going on?" I yelled, but neither of them took much notice. Dream relaxed, suddenly smiling at me a moment before I was awoken by a sharp jolt. For a few terrified seconds, I couldn't see. I wondered if they'd already begun torturing me by taking out my eyes. My eyesight returned slowly, to a view of dismally dark walls and steel bars. Yep, I was defiantly in the Bastion. The hell by which so many "guilty" had vanished from this world. I got the feeling I was going to die here.

Strangely enough, I wasn't panicked. I was calmer than I had been when I fell off the cliff. I felt no reason to try and escape. A high-pitched and half crazed laughter filled the cell. It forced me to go looking for the source until I recognised that it was my own voice. And I couldn't stop.

"Wow. You're probably Delirium's girl. Am I right?" The other prisoner in the tiny room said. They moved into what little light I could see in. It was neither man nor woman but some combination of both. Short black hair and a thin figure, ambiguous features graced with a menacing smirk. I felt my body flush with heat and the laughter died into a needy moan. S/he floated gracefully over, cupping my face in it's soft hands, making my own small frame shake. I grabbed it's arms as my knees gave out beneath me. "You poor thing," It crooned sadistically at me. "You're not ready for even my presence."

As if to save me from itself, it pulled my closer, entwining it's arms around me possessively, and whispered a name into my ear. Lights exploded behind my closed eyelids, the emotion I couldn't describe overwhelming me and sending me into unconsciousness.

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** Disclaimer:** Neil Gaiman owns the Endless and everything to do with his work of awesomeness, The Sandman. (Hoshi: trust me, If she owned it, Morpheus wouldn't be dead.) Stop spoiling things!


	2. Two: Fairly Confused

Days later, I still couldn't explain how it had vanished from my cell. The guards said I'd gotten a fever and passed out; no one but myself in the room. I'd told them often of the person but they always said I was hallucinating. I didn't agree with them any more than they agreed to let me go free. So I sat in my cell for days on end.

Once maybe twice a week (my days were mixed up for lack of an accurate way to tell time, and having no view of the sun from my cell) the guards shoved all the prisoners outside for 'excercise'. This got most of them into fights, myself one memorable occasion, a man decided I was the best thing he was getting in prison and tried to grab me. He took a head-long trip into the wall of the yard, then to the hospital. I, however, was sent to solitary.

The solitary cells were not as bad as the normal ones, at least, they weren't for me because these cells were on the very top floors of the Bastion. Here the windows were much bigger, but nobody wanted to escape by jumping out. The last person who had, had left splatter marks on the cobblestones below.

I was alone, but far more aware of the passage of time. This suited me just fine. So many months passed so slowly. I filched a piece of charcoal, with which I could write my thoughts on the walls. And in an otherwise featureless cell, there were so many thoughts. None of them made any sense for more than a few lines. I would occasionally remember songs I had learned as a child and I would sing them repeatedly while I wrote them down. And other times I would tell myself short little stories that went on for a few feet then trailed into meaningless ramblings.

Slowly, I forgot about my dream of Death and Dream, but that androgynous figure still haunted me on occasion. My mind knew the three were connected. Subconsciously, I'd already figured it out, but my conscious and my subconscious never seemed to be on speaking terms with each other.

Then, I got released.

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The pair of guards from outside my cell paraded in, with a man between them. He had long red-gold hair, tied back loosely as was the fashion for nobles, and skin that told of many days under the sun. By the look on his face, he was impressed by the amount of writing I'd done. It went up the walls and parts of the ceiling in small spidery lettering. One guard bowed to him and said gruffly, "We will await you and the young lady outside, MiLord."

Once the guards had left, the lord's features changed. His hair shortened to just below his ears, and his eyes had been gray but they now faded to shifting reds and oranges and blacks. His fine clothes now looked more like war regalia than silk and velvet. I probably looked as nervous and edgy as I felt and the window looked pretty good right about now because a soft smile broke his grim expression and a deep laugh shook his large frame. He must've read my thoughts because he shrank about six inches until we stood eye to eye and said "Don't worry, little one. My sister Death asked me to come collect you. They seem to be ready for you now."

I managed to squeak, "Who are you?" as he picked me up and put me on his shoulders like I was a small child. We, well he, walked out of the room and, as he crossed the threshold, he was once again a tall, fine lord. He didn't speak, and motioned for me not to, until we'd gone down the large spiral staircase, and out the giant double oak doors of the front gate. In the stable, and away from the guards, he set me on a warhorse of a Clydesdale as tall as he was, and led it out into the woods.

Out of the Bastion, he resumed what i figured was his true appearance and said, "I am call Destruction around the other Endless, but the people of the lands around here call me Lord Loup. I would rather you didn't though." I twisted atop the russet horse to look down at my rescuer. He smiled pathetically and I figured he wasn't proud of having the title. If I had to guess, he couldn't have been much older than twenty. Trying to act calm, I stiffly replied, "I'm Kaiyali Moondancer."

Destruction laughed, that deep booming laugh that shivered through my bones. Patting the horse's flank, he shook his head, "No, Miss, not for long. The trials will change you."

When he said the word 'trials' I started feeling sick. My head started pounding furiously and I could hear the roar of my own blood in my ears. My fingers hurt and my legs tingled as if I'd been in the saddle far too long. Yalith Spiritstone, my old caravan's mystic woman, had always said that words had power, but I'd never believed her until now. Before I passed out, Destruction clamped a hand on my shoulder and steadied me. "Whoa girl! You get sick in that prison or something?"

His voice dragged me back into reality and I leaned forward onto the horse's neck, letting it's blonde mane soak up the beads of sweat from my head. I groaned, "What t-trials?" For a being named 'destruction' once he saw that I was alright, he was cheerful about things.

"They happen every once in a while, except you happened nowhere near any others so we have to move you. An Endless will have a half mortal successor and we have to find them before they break something important like the time continuum. The tri-," He stopped himself when I started turning green again, "They're used to figure out who is the child of who, because all the offspring are transferred to human parents so the Endless can resume their lives and duties." He explained. From my position on the horse, I vaguely noticed while he spoke, that our surroundings shifted from the forest to a large field with a large dark blue castle in the center of it. Leaning face down on the horse, I had a clear view of the ground we walked over. Or rather, the lack of ground. The tall grass around us wasn't planted in soil. It simply faded into nothingness. We were even stepping on anything!

I sat bolt upright and Destruction caught the mortified look plastered on my face. He patted me on the back, "Delirium won't let either of us fall. Although she has been known to play some pretty mean tricks."

Like Delirium, whoever she was, had heard him the 'ground' suddenly heaved a foot upward. I didn't have time to react before it then jerked another three feet back down again. The charger reared madly, starting to gallop towards the castle. I hung on for dear life, praying that I would live long enough to find out what the hell was going on. But my faith was sorely shaken as all my sense of reality had, so far, gone right out the proverbial window.

The horse stopped at the castle gates and, forgetting my fear of the not-ground, I slid off it's back, too tired to be scared anymore. Destruction came up beside me, not out of breath in the least. He picked me up like a sack of potatoes and carried me through the front gates. I was also far too tired to notice much of anything until he laid me down on something soft. Without the usual thought for my own safety, I slept, sinking into dreamless darkness.

"Good luck Miss Moondancer. I'm afraid you'll need it."

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**Disclaimer: **Once again, if I owned The Sandman, it would be crap, because I don't have the creativity that Neil Gaiman does. (Hoshi: And It would be rated X...) True, true.

And thank you to my one reviewer Kurama'srose124 and everybody else who liked people have no idea how good the sugar high of joy I get when I see reviews feels like. And to the people who didn't review and would/should have, please do! I don't bite! (Hoshi: Yeah, most of the time she's bluffing.) I'll bluff you!


	3. Three: Friends and Explainations

I originally wrote this for my two best friends, who had no idea what The Sandman was. Instead of taking hours to explain it myself, I wrote in the explanation. I can't exactly take it out now since it's kind of important in the storyline. So you people who know get a refresher course. Thanks again to Kurama'srose124, my only reviewer, who is beginning to sound like my real life inspiration and motivator, Brigitt.

**Disclaimer:**I own only the characters that are not apart of the original story written by Neil Gaiman. Trust me, i would have somehow turned it into a musical...

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Consciousness hit me like a thud. Or a series of thuds. Light burned my sensitive eyes, so I rolled over away from the brightness. Strong, lithe arms slipped around my waist and pulled me in closer. My sleepy mind didn't register this as anything wrong at first. Then whoever it was repositioned themselves and something hard brushed against my thigh, jolting me into panicked alertness. I drew my legs up and kicked him away, only to land on my back on the floor when he didn't budge an inch. The light once again blinded me as I lay there dazed. Somewhere above me a soft tinkling laughter, a girl's laugh, chimed in my ears. When my eyes adjusted to the bright morning light, I looked up to see a dark-skinned girl, African maybe, with long black dreadlocks, dangling her feet over the edge of the top bunk bed. She giggled further and said, "At least someones up. The others have been asleep since I came in an hour ago."

I sat up,still on the floor, taking in the room around me. The morning light streamed in from the eastern wall, which was a panel of stained glass windows that went from floor to ceiling. The colors made no sense to me up close, but out of the corner of ones eye, they assembled into a garden view. A second bunk bed sat against the wall opposite the one I'd been sleeping in. On the top bunk, half hanging off of it, was a tall, lanky brunette boy. The bottom was occupied by a vaguely oriental figure but which gender they were was a mystery. The only other objects of interest in the room were a plain looking wardrobe sitting in the corner next to an equally plain looking door.

Suddenly, the brunette fell off the bed with a loud Whump! and landed on his fack on the floor. A blonde that had been out of sight behind him sat up and snapped, "I am NOT gay!" Now somewhat awake, the boy on ground level groaned, "Not my idea! I passed out on the back of that giant rabbit!"

the blond boy swung down and planted himself firmly in front of his unfortunate bed mate. He glared through horn rimmed glasses at the boy on the floor, who was so pale I expected he'd never gone out in sunlight.

"If that isn't a load of bull I don't know what is." Blondie hissed, about to say more when I decided to intervene. "You were awake when we s-Oomph!" The pillow, while soft, was extremely thick and knocked him over onto the lower bed. "Don't you have better things to do than whine?" I yawned before he started yelling again. He was almost as pale as the other boy, and his voice had a soft lilt on the edges that made me guess he was from the British Isles. He sat up gripping the pillow, when a voice cut through the argument.

"Children! Children! Calm down or your grounded." The voice called from the doorway. A familiar raven haired woman materialized holding the doorknob and smirking at our little group. That smirk made the room feel about twenty degrees colder. Everybody seemed frozen in place except for the girl with the dreadlocks. She waved cheerfully and said, "Morning Death! What's the word?" with the same perkiness that she'd displayed in greeting me. I shivered, hearing the name and remembering this was the woman from my dream, so many months ago. The only problem with my memory of her, however, was that all that time close to insanity in jail, my image of her had blurred so I expected her complete with scythe and cloak.

She went to each of the beds, waking whoever wasn't up already. Addressing the girl, she said, "Come on, Marta. Get everybody dressed and down for breakfast before Delirium comes through and switches the dining room for the main garden again." I began to realize that this woman didn't need a scythe or a grim appearance to be authoritative. It came with the job, I guess.

Death swept out the door, leaving Marta in a fit of wind chime-ish giggles. Jumping off the top of the bed, she laughed, "Now that was dining al fresco!"

I noted that I was in a floral nightgown and went to the wardrobe to remedy this. I was expecting to find one set of everyone clothes, but instead I saw about six sets of the outfit I'd come in, all in different color combinations. This would have been less alarming if I really owned that amount of clothes. Instead of asking, and being further confused, I picked out an outfit that looked the least shocking.

It was simple enough. A short brown jacket with white fur around the edges and a long skirt-like pair of midnight blue pants, studded with small buttons where I had hidden pockets. In one of those pockets, I found a hair tie. I squirmed into my clothes, trying to be discreet, when the blond piped up, "So where's my clothes?"

Marta closed the doors behind me and replied, "In the wardrobe where they should be. It has the clothes of whoever opens it. What was your name again?" She asked as politely as if she'd been told already and forgotten. He opened the door she'd closed and rummaged around inside, wondering weather to tell her or not. He finally said, "I'm Simon Carewell."

Marta spun to the rest of our tiny group, silently asking the same polite question. I was shrugging into my jacket when she caught my eye. Feeling like I'd told a thousand people I told her as well, "I'm called Kaiyali Moondancer." And I promptly ducked to avoid to weird looks I got from the boys. The brunette was sitting, bundled in a blanket, next to the person on the lower bunk, who turned out to be a girl. He looked so sad and dopey, I figured he wasn't very social, especially when he muttered, "Enma Kyoya." under his breath.

The girl next to him, obviously from the far east, was more alert, and definatly self confident. "Chi Zhexing. Where are we?" She asked the question on everyone's mind but Marta's. Who knew what was on that girl's mind most of the time. We all went quiet and looked at the strange girl. As brightly as ever, she said, "Destiny's castle. He usually doesn't use a lot of it because he prefers the gardens, so the other Endless use it for the trials."

I flinched. Because as soon as the word was out of her mouth, the sickness came again. I shivered, cold sweat forming on my forehead. The urge to throw up was so great, my face surely had turned green. From the collective groans around the room, I knew I wasn't the only one who got close to violently ill when that word was mentioned.

Marta ignored our illness, which disappated faster than last time, and dragged Chi and the shrinking violet Enma to the wardrobe to get dressed. "Time waits for no one!" She called, "Except maybe Death... Who knows?"

Hurrying through everybody's morning routines, I remembered the guy I'd woken up with. But their were only five people in the room, and I was sure no one had left. No more confused than I'd been for the past two days now, I murmured "Where he...?"  
From the wardrobe, Chi pulled a long green dress, and tried it on. She caught my question and asked, "Where'd who do what, Kaiyali?" I shrugged, "I woke up earlier in the arms of a guy with a hard on. But now I can't find him." Chi grinned wickedly. "What'd you want to find him for?"

I glared at her, slightly red, tying my sandals with short, sharp tugs on the straps. Standing up to slip on the other, I said, "Because I didn't see him leave, that's why." Her grin, if anything, only grew further. She sat next to Enma on the opposite bed and asked, "Ooookay. What do you really want him for Kaiyali? You ARE a girl after all." Both shy Enma and I went bright red. I started to re-braid my long hair, snapping "You're a pervert Chi, cut it out!"

Marta broke in, cutting the tension in the room with, "Kaiyali, that wasn't a guy. You shared a bed with Desire." But instead of being comforted, I only went redder; practically hearing the thoughts that were making Chi laugh hysterically. Enma's hopelessly lost expression prompted the girl to to say, "I guess you guys don't know very much about the Endless. Very well, I can explain what I've picked up from them."

Arranging herself infront of the window, we all gathered around as Marta told us what the story of a lifetime. The lifetime of the universe. "The Endless are not mortal. They aren't human because they existed before humans were even thought of. The Endless are ideas, aspects if you will, of forces that have existed since the beginning. And in the beginning, was the eldest of them: Destiny. His book details the entire course of history and the future, but it is set on paper, not stone, and can change sometimes.

"Then, when creatures began to live, came Death. Death is there at the start of a life and will be there at the end of all lives, including the life of the universe. Who knows which will last longer, Destiny or Death. But once the living were aware of themselves and life, they began to dream. So came Dream, because creatures could die before they had the capacity to dream.

"Destruction was next, once being the controller of all wars, famine, disease, and anything that destroyed what could be created. But long ago, he left his post, preferring to create rather than be responsible for the machines of war man was inventing. We don't know if he has any children because he refuses to pass on the burden of being Destruction.

"After him comes the three youngest. The twins, Desire and Despair, are perhaps, the most troublesome, since they were practically made to trouble mortal creatures. Desire is unique among the Endless, being neither male nor female, but being everything one could want in a single living being. Despair is rarely at home outside her realm, where she loves her work like nothing else but her twin.

The youngest Endless was once called Delight. She was a beautiful and happy woman, until a disaster that none of the others talk about, and she herself doesn't clearly remember, happened. Out of that tragedy came her current form, Delirium, the embodiment of all insanity, though some wonder if she is truly insane or if she makes more sense than anyone."

Simon suddenly interrupted, making the other three of us jump out of our skins. Leaning against a bedpost, a dark and distrustful gleam in the eyes behind his glasses, he asked, "So why are we here? If these guys are all powerful, why do they need us mear mortals?"

Marta gave him a look of quiet thoughtfulness for a moment. She sighed, closing her eyes, calmer than she'd been all day. Solemn for another moment, she replied, "I'm sorry. I suppose I've mislead you. The Endless are not mortal, but they are not immortal either. They live as long as they are not killed. To prevent the permanent loss of an Endless, they each have mortal children who will step into their position should they die."

The silence of the room was absolute, and deafening. Then, the normally bubbly girl gone quiet, grinned, "And that's why all us children should get down to breakfast!"


	4. Four: Breakfast and Bookends

No I haven't posted in the last few weeks. It maybe summer but I'm up to my eyeballs in six kinds of busy! And as you can see, I've changed Destiny's realm to suit my creative needs. No worries though, I don't think I've made any premenant plot holes. And thanks to my (two) reviewers. No I don't mind if you find typos. Go ahead! Critisize our work!(Yume: Trust us, it helps!)

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The dining hall was large and lime green for some reason. Tables of every sort crowded the room, watching lawn chairs fighting armchairs for space at a bright blue banquet table. A riot broke out between several rocking chairs and a lone wicker stool. Surprisingly, the stool looked to be on the winning side of things. Aside from that, there was food on the table and we were all hugry.

Admid the chaos, we all caught chairs, who became quite compliant once they were sat in, and got to the main table. I grabbed a plate, piling it with what looked like beef and hotcakes, a mall amile growing on my face. I had only seen this much food at festival times, when we had a reason to share what we had with everyone. Beside me, Simon cringed at my plate, holding one of eggs and bacon. We both bit into out food, grimaced, and switched plates. "How can you eat that?" We asked each other. He sniffed, "I don't know where your from if you eat thanksgiving dinner for breakfast."

"Romania, "I replied with a mouth full of baked potato/eggs, "What's thanksgiving?"He gave me a mortified look and, on the other side of me, Enma looked paler than usual if that was possible. Chi blinked and looked up from her bowl like I had a tail. Simon incredulously asked, "Jeez girl what century are you from?" Before I could finished my odd tasting food, Marta piped up from across the table and awnsered him, "She's from the fifteenth. The Endless are usually very linear about time but they had to make an exception."

This quieted the others. Troubled, I gulped and asked, "Aren't they too?" Figuring that Marta had always lived here. She shook her head, ropy braids swinging around. Simon said, "We're all from the twentifirst century, Kaiyali."

I thought over to implications of this for a while. If I was from a different time period than them, it ment that I'd missed almost everything they knew. And the idea I found most terrifying, what if they knew me as some important figure in their history. Reflexively, I ducked a flying rocker leg that came out of the fight between the rocking chairs and the wicker stool in the corner, and I kept on thinking.

"Doesn't that mean she's older than all of us?" Enma asked, chewing on a granola bar. Chi poked Simon in the ribs, "Yeah, don't be rude to your elder, Sy." Simon scowled, finishing his tomato flavored beef and toasted cheese hotcakes. "I refuse!" He proclaimed, holding his fork in the air. The rest of us laughed as it turned into a spoon. "What the-?"

"That'll teach you some, um, manners, Kid." Stuttered a young woman coming down the stairs out of nowhere. She had two different eyes and wild semi red hair and she walked like a drunk woman on a ship at sea. Simon looked strenly at his new spoon like it had betrayed him or something as the woman stumbled over to Marta, hugging her tightly. "And how's my little Mama's girl?"

Marta hugged her back and said, "Same as always, Crazy Mama." With a hint of a twang slipping into her voice. The plates on the table suddenly switched themselves for bowls of gumbo, though their flavor remained the same. Marta turned to the rest of us, since Chi had scrambled to the other side of the table when things started, and introduced the woman. "This is my mama, Delirium. Mama, these are my friends, the other Endless children.

Delirium waved. "Nice to, um, meet you, I think," She turned from us to her daughter, who'd obviously gotten her looks from her father. "I'm pretty sure that, um, well, everything starts tomorrow? I hope that's right." Before she said any more she suddenly waved good bye and dropped through a trap door that I swear wasn't there before, leaving everyone but her daughter confused. Marta danced over to a pair of armchairs that seemed to be argueing about something. Sitting in one of them, leaving the other to sulk, she grinned, "So who's going first then?"

The four of us looked from one to another. Chi asked, "First for what? A shower?" To which the other girl smirked. This was kind of a creepy look on Marta's part. "The T. R. I. A. L. S. Of course. Who's going first?" Even hearing her spell the word made my stomache curl. Silence. Apparently, nobody else wanted to know why the word made us all sick. I was about to open my mouth when...

I'll go first."

Everyone turned, surprised to say the least, to look at Enma. He was so quiet and shy, we'd all expected him to go last. After a moment of shocked silence, Simon smiled and stepped over to him, patting him on the back. "Then I'll be right behind ya buddy. We all have to go sometime right?" Chi hugged both of them around the neck and added, "I call third! Jeez you guys have some balls, don't you?"

I suddenly felt so alone, being the only one who hadn't spoken up. It felt like I was standing in a different dimension, watching a scene between three happy friends. A quiet whisper from somewhere hissed, "Looks like they don't need you, my dear. Seems you're useless here." I nodded self-consciously, wishing I wasn't so concerned with self-preservation. A cold musty air flowed around me, raising goosebumps on my arms. And time seemed to slow to a crawl. Then everything snapped back to normal.

The world seemed to drag itself back into focus when Destruction, having slipped in unnoticed, ducked under me and boosted me up onto his shoulders with a cheerful, "Morning Miss. You enjoying life?" Pinwheeling to keep my balance I managed to say, "I'm, woah, good." He chuckled, a full deep laugh that threatened to shake me onto the floor. "t seems you're a lot better that when I last saw you yesterday." He said, "Have you seen the libraries yet?"

When I shook my head, he turned to go out the door, and came face to face, or as close to it as possible, with Simon, who scowled questioningly at the taller red head. On either side of the blonde stood, Chi and Enma. I bent down over Des's head and introduced them. "Guys, this is Destruction. Des, that's Simon and the other two are Chi and Enma."

Destruction reached down and shook the blond boy's hand, along with half his forearm, "It's very nice to meet you. I hope you don't mind if I steal Miss Kaiyali?" He then walked around Simon, and out the door he was barely short enough for. I had to swing backwards down so I was hanging upside down by my legs with my sandy brown braid trailing the floor, just so I wouldn't get hit by the doorframe. I managed to wave, "See ya later guys!" as my ride turned the corner.

The library was so large, it might take a single man eons to even read all the book spines. Small, furry, dog-like creatures scurried everywhere. Some sat at the cases and ran up to a shelf when another stopped infront of them, bringing down books and putting them back. Others were running deeper into the library and bringing back books to be shelved or asking for books to take. "Destruction?", I asked. He shook his head, "I'd rather you didn't use that name." I shrugged, "Ok, Red. Can you put me down please?" He set me on a chaise lounge by a large stained glass window. This one became an armory when I looked at it out of the corner of my eye.

At once, one of the dog creatures, which I realized were foxes, came and sat infront of me. "The foxes will get you anything, as long as it's been written down." I looked over the creature for a moment. It was solid black all over except for a white starburst on it's forehead, right between it's ears. It looked so adorable, only about a foot high, and I had the strong urge to hug the little guy. After a minute or so, I told it, "Dante's Comedia Divina, please." the little fox barked a few times and I replied, "No the original italian, if you have it." As the fox scurried off into the maze of bookcases, Destruction, who had sat down and ordered his own book, asked, "Why that one?"

I laid back comfortably on the lounge, saying softly, "My mother read it to me when I was a child. One canto each night. Those were my best memories." He only raised an eyebrow. "Some bedtime story." This comment was shrugged off and soon the books arrived. I flipped onto my stomache to read and the fox jumped onto my back, curling up between my shoulder blades like he was going to read over my shoulder. "They're incharge of a specific book. Until he returns it, you two are stuck together."

Looking over my shoulder at the fox, I grinned, "Since you like books so much, I think I'll call you Page. How's that sound?" Page agreed with me by sticking his tounge out and licking my nose. I laughed and opened the book, starting on page one. Hours passed and i was so engrossed in the book that I didn't notice when Destruction slipped out of the library.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** Once again, I will repeat myself. Wait, no I won't. Sy! Come here and do this for me! I'm feeling lazy!

Simon: When are you not lazy?

Authoress: When I'm typing and singing.

Simon: *sigh* She doesn't own Neil Gaiman's Sandman. All she owns are the OCs in this story. More to come later. Happy now?

Authoress: *spinning in chair* Don't forget dear. That includes you and your girlfriend!~

Simon: You are INSANE!

Authoress: We're all insane Sy, even you are insane.

Simon: I give up on you!


End file.
